Experimental evidence of observed social media status cues on perceived likability.

Abstract

Recent research addresses social media's increasing importance to relationships and its influence on individual perceptions of self. However, understanding of the value outside observers place on social media status cues (i.e., followers, likes, etc.) in evaluating the perceived likability of others is currently underexplored. Using the theoretical lenses of social exchange and social information processing, we developed a conjoint experiment relating observers' expected likability of social media users with variance in a social media user's (1) number of followers and "likes", (2) physical attractiveness, (3) and the percentage of "selfies" (self-portraits) posted. Data collected from 72 participants and 873 generated observations provided results consistent with our theory that those with more followers and "likes" have higher perceived likability. In addition, this perception was further enhanced by physical attractiveness, but diminished by the percentage of "selfies" posted. Of additional interest, we also found that likability differed by gender, age, and the amount of time spent on social media. Implications for future research are discussed. Public Policy Relevance StatementOnline social network users often manage or gauge their social connectivity to others through social status cues, but these may differ from the value observers place on these visible cues. A user's number of friends and "likes" increases perceptions of likability with physical attractiveness increasing this positive effect and "selfie" photos diminishing this relationship with perception of likability. Additionally, females consider followers and likes and selfies more in their assessment of likability, whereas males placed greater value on attractiveness in their assessment.

Out-of-Place Content: How Repetitive, Offensive, and Opinion-Challenging Social Media Posts Shape Users’ Unfriending Strategies in Spain

“…Moreover, according to our evidence, hate speech, extreme and exclusionary language, and fake news are the most salient triggers, rather than cross-cutting exposure. In line with previous research, our participants also tended to oppose what they considered to be low-quality content, such as ignorant, repetitive opinions, and posts linked to users' self-promotion (Bradley et al 2019;Sibona and Walczak 2011).…”

“…These relationships require less commitment and reciprocity and are, therefore, less costly and more likely to become long-lasting (McFarland and Ployhart 2015;Surma 2016). Bradley et al (2019) applied SET to understand how users behave with others and perceive their likability, in addition to how this affects online connections. The results showed that the excessive self-promotion of users would annoy their networks, implying less reciprocity and group benefit.…”

Persona Transparency: Analyzing the Impact of Explanations on Perceptions of Data-Driven Personas

“…Our results provide empirical evidence that the gender of the persona interacts with several persona perceptions that are considered important for application of personas. Even though these gender effects require further investigation, we note that there are indications from prior work in other domains [65] that the quantity and type of information provided can affect how females are perceived [7]. This additionally may impact how male/female personas (and the audiences they represent) are understood within organizations.…”

Conspicuous consumption of luxury experiences: an experimental investigation of status perceptions on social media

“…by likes or positive comments), they feel not only affirmed but also more satisfied with their experiences than they would without the validation (Sedera et al , 2017). In addition, users with more followers and higher numbers of “likes” on their posts are perceived to be more likeable (Bradley et al , 2019). Hence, conspicuous consumption not only presents a means to convey status but also it seems to influence the perception of nonstatus-related dimensions such as niceness.…”

“…Moreover, while the research has demonstrated that not only the content of a post but also the age and gender of the communicator affect nonstatus-related dimensions such as the likability of social media users (Bradley et al , 2019), the influence of such social demographics on status perceptions is still unclear. In contrast to Bellezza et al (2017), who found no significant influence of gender on status perceptions, Holthoff and Scheiben (2019) concluded that conspicuous busyness leads to higher perceived status for men than for women.…”